FREE HUGS!

First, see this video to appreciate the gravity of this post.

I promise, it's a good one.This movie has gotten over sixty-nine million views!Isn't it so awesomely sweet? ^_^(Plus, I love the music.)
It was the inspiration behind my sister, brother and I creating our own Free Hugs campaign. To tell the truth, it was my bro Adam's idea to actually bring it to life! We made a couple bold-lettered signs, drove to our local mall, and honestly started giving out free hugs to total strangers!!! Yay! Plus we brought a camera and filmed a bunch of movies! Here's a picture in front of the mall, from before we started:

It was incredible! A lot more fun than I expected it would be! ^_^ I lost track of how many people we hugged, but I'm willing to bet that, if you put them all together, we gave at least 50 hugs. I mean, I couldn't really prove it, but I felt as if I gave 50 hugs by myself, so it could have been lots more! (I assure you, though, that there are 18 hugs I can indisputably prove, because they were on film. ^,^)

The 3 of us hugged all sorts! Men, women, children. Didn't matter if you were black, white, short, tall, fat or thin. If you read our sign and decided to take us up on our offer, you got a big hug!

We made a music video in Adobe Premier Pro, with Burt Bacharach's song "What the World needs now is love." Annette did all the editing. (Thanks, sis!) It is really something sweet. ^_^

Next Saturday is actually National Free Hugs Day! So if you feel so moved (and I hope you do, because it's really so much fun!), on July 2, 2011, make your own FREE HUGS sign, go to a busy place, and hug people who want to be hugged, but don't know they do until they see your sign. ^_~ Have fun!

Stranger chat

I stumbled onto a very interesting website last night. It's called Omegle. (No idea why. I think it's a made up word. O_o It has an omega symbol in the logo, though, so maybe it's a play on words?)

Anyway, it's a rather fun site, because it allows you to talk to people you'd probably never run into otherwise, virtually or physically. The site pairs you up with a random person who happens to be using the site at the same time, and you're off. Any time either person wants to end the chat, you just disconnect. There's no registration necessary, and the site is totally free! ^_^

Of course, be warned. You must be cautious and mature to use this site. You never know who you might be talking to. In my experience so far, for about every 4 or 5 strangers I chatted with, there was only 1 person I really felt comfortable chatting with. The others either ended the conversation early on, or seemed to be weirdos. O,o

To be safe, try not to reveal your N.A.S.L. (name, age, sex, location) too early in the conversation, if you can possibly help it.

The internet. It's a scary, exciting world out there. Yes, it's full of creeps. But it's also full of some pretty cool people. ^_^ Talk to them!

Who follows that rule, "Don't Talk To Strangers", really? You have to talk to strangers every day! More than 99% of the world is made up of strangers! If you never talk to them, they'll never get the chance to possibly be your friend.

So yeah, try Omegle out. Make a new friend, even if that friendship only lasts for a few minutes. It's fun to bond, if you're talking to the right person.

My bro's on Facebook ^,^

A friend of his helped him to make a profile. Now my sister and I are going to show young Adam the ropes of the popular social network. It'll be so much fun! I love teaching my brother new things. ^_^

Pottermore.com

I first became aware that JK Rowling was up to something on the 15th, when my friend, Rani, mentioned on her blog that there were rumors of a new Harry Potter website being created. A little digging online, and I found a YouTube channel with a big countdown to when some huge announcement video would show up. (It was covered in owls, for some reason... O_o)

It was counting down towards the end of the week, which is today.

This video was put up 4 hours ago, as of this post. ^_^

I don't know about the rest of you Potter fans, but I am pretty stoked about this website. ^_^

http://www.pottermore.com/

From the website --- "Pottermore is a free website that builds an exciting online experience around the reading of the Harry Potter books. Come back on 31st July to find out how you can get the chance to enter Pottermore early."

Well, I'm most definitely going to try my best to get in this thing early on! Why wait until October if I can join up in just a couple months?

Keep me posted, JK! Thank you so much for not letting the HP adventure end with the last book, or the last film (which comes out in just a few weeks! Can you believe it? ^,^)

EDIT: Wow! I did a little more hunting for Pottermore news, and found this press release. It makes the website sound so very exciting!!!

---

J.K. Rowling today, Thursday 23rd June, answered mounting speculation about the nature of her new project and announced Pottermore, a unique and free-to-use website which builds an exciting online experience around the reading of her hugely successful Harry Potter books, and is partnered by Sony.

The announcement today was heralded by the revealing of the website’s name via an online search for its letters, and a ‘coming soon’ holding page which received over a million visits within 36 hours of launching.

For this groundbreaking collaborative project, J.K. Rowling has written extensive new material about the characters, places and objects in the much-loved stories, which will inform, inspire and entertain readers as they journey through the storylines of the books. Pottermore will later incorporate an online shop where people can purchase exclusively the long-awaited Harry Potter eBooks, in partnership with J K Rowling’s publishers worldwide, and is ultimately intended to become an online reading experience, extending the relevance of Harry Potter to new generations of readers, while still appealing to existing fans. As the Pottermore Shop develops, it is intended that it should include further products designed specifically for Harry Potter fans, offering a potential outlet for Sony products and services related to Pottermore. In keeping with Harry Potter’s international appeal, the site will launch in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, with more languages to follow.

In the new website, the storyline will be brought to life with sumptuous newly-commissioned illustrations and interactive ‘Moments’ through which you can navigate, starting with the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone. On entering, you choose a magic username and begin your experience. As you move through the chapters, you can read and share exclusive writing from J.K. Rowling, and, just as Harry joins Hogwarts, so can you. You visit Diagon Alley, get sorted into a house, cast spells and mix potions to help your house compete for the House Cup.

At a press conference at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Rowling revealed some key features of the website. In an announcement which will thrill fans, she described how she has brought to life both the Sorting Hat and Ollivanders experiences from her books for the first time on Pottermore, by revealing the questions asked by the Sorting Hat – which places newcomers into their Hogwarts houses according to their characteristics – and the magic behind the Wand Chooser – which finds the right wand for each user from over 33,000 possible combinations. She also revealed glimpses of the new information she has provided on some of the best-loved characters.

J.K. Rowling’s announcement on YouTube and sony.com today revealed that Pottermore (along with the Pottermore Shop) will be open to all users in October 2011. From today, 23rd June, fans can submit their email addresses on Pottermore.com in order to be contacted by the site following the opening of registration on 31st July, Harry’s birthday. Also on that date, an online challenge will be launched, whereby the first million people to complete their registration will gain early entry into the website, and help put final touches to the experience.

J.K. Rowling commented,

“I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new digital generation. I hope fans and those new to Harry will have as much fun helping to shape Pottermore as I have. Just as I have contributed to the website, everyone else will be able to join in by submitting their own comments, drawings and other content in a safe and friendly environment – Pottermore has been designed as a place to share the stories with your friends as you journey through the site.”

Pottermore has been made possible with the support and partnership of Sony.

Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Sony Corporation, commented:

“Sony’s association with J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore brings together one of the world’s most innovative brands with the most successful book series in history, in a pioneering partnership that will help shape the future of story-telling. We are proud to be a part of it, both at this momentous announcement, and as we collaborate on its development over the coming years.”

On Sony’s partnership of Pottermore, J.K. Rowling commented:

“As I think people know, I am very protective of Harry and have always been very selective with any new initiatives, but I am totally committed to making this partnership with Sony and this wonderful new website a success. There are many companies I could have worked with on this ultimate digital expression of Harry Potter’s universe, but it is Sony’s unique philosophy of creativity in harmony with technology that made them my first choice as main partner. The spirit behind Sony’s make.believe philosophy is one that rings true with Pottermore’s own values.”

The detailed creative execution has been led by TH_NK, a leading UK digital agency, under the supervision of J.K. Rowling and the Pottermore management team, in co-operation with Sony. J.K. Rowling’s publishers, Bloomsbury in the UK and Scholastic in the USA, as well as her international publishers worldwide, have been active supporters in the creation of pottermore.com and the Pottermore Shop. Warner Bros, the makers of the hugely successful Harry Potter film franchise, is also one of the partners who have worked to support the launch of Pottermore through a variety of marketing, promotional and other efforts, and will continue to collaborate as the project grows.

The storyline of the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, will go live on the site in early 2012. The Pottermore Shop opens when the site opens to all in October, selling complete ranges of the eBooks and digital audiobooks in a selection of languages, exclusively.

Designed for fans of all ages, the website has been created with child safety in mind, employing best practice and compliance with internet codes of practice in the UK, Europe and USA, and elsewhere.

I perform this way

Found a great spoof tribute to Lady Gaga's song, "Born This Way", done by Weird Al Yankovic. It is pure hilariousness. ^_^ Very tastefully done.

Also I picked up a couple of really cool quotes today at the Toastmasters Leadership conference I went to with my mom and sister today. At the end, this guy gave an amazingly inspirational speech about how everyone can be a superhero. (Hmm. Isn't it weird how many superhero movies are playing this summer? O_o)

Anyway, here's a great definition of a hero that the speaker gave:

‎"Superheros are people who use their special/extraordinary abilities/powers to help others."

Here's another quote that I really liked!

"Be the voice for those who can't speak."

I wish I could remember how the whole speech went. It was quite fantastic! ^_^

Balloon Comic

Just surfing the internet this morning, and I found a really sweet story on Deviant Art. ^,^

This girl, B1nd1, or Emmy, drew a great 16 page comic. No words are spoken, but it's a compelling story and the art is fantastic.

I put the first page here so you can have a preview. I totally recommend you check the rest of the story out. It has a great ending. ^_^PAGE TWO
PAGE THREE
PAGE FOUR
PAGE FIVE
PAGE SIX
PAGE SEVEN
PAGE EIGHT
PAGE NINE
PAGE TEN
PAGE ELEVEN
PAGE TWELVE
PAGE THIRTEEN
PAGE FOURTEEN
PAGE FIFTEEN
PAGE SIXTEEN

Profile pic poll

Looked at a bunch of anime girl pics with some help from Google Image's latest feature (see my last post) and these are the 6 images I like the most.

Don't ask me why, but I love having cute anime girls as my profile! It especially helps if their hair is pinkish, or if something they're wearing is pink. I don't know... it just reminds me of the person I'd like to be if I were a cartoon! ^_^ (In real life, though, I don't think I could pull off the pink hair. Mine is too dark. lol. O_o)

In the end, of course, it will be my decision which girl gets to be my replacement Blogger avatar. But I was wondering if you guys would indulge me and pick which image you guys liked best. Like, which do you think best represents... me?

New image search feature!

Okay, I was just thinking about changing up my profile picture (I'm still thinking about it, btw. I'm not sure if I will, I just wanted to see what was out there for me), so I went to my favorite image search website, Google Images, to check out nice pics. That's when I noticed their newest feature, which is really quite interesting!

Check it out yourself!

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Do you see it? You're able to drag an image into the search bar, and it will actually show you similar pictures to that image!

Wow. O_o All I have to say is, good job, Google. You never cease to amaze me, with all the cool new web gadgets you keep turning out. What will they think up next, I wonder?

Bye-bye, birdies... for real. ~,~

We've been talking about selling our birds for a long time. Now we've finally gone and done it. They're gone...

Sasha and Sammy, the 2 boy cockatiels Annette and I had owned for almost 6 years, are now out of our lives. We sold them to a nice couple yesterday. It was sad packing them up in their car, and seeing them drive away... I am really going to miss those little feathered rascals. ~,~

Some last photos that my mom kindly took, before the new owners came.

(Left = Sammy, right = Sasha, in all the pics.)

I mean, yeah, they used to screech really loud at times, and they used to drive us off the wall when we let them out of the cage to stretch their wings and they wouldn't come back down when playtime was over, and I don't need to mention cleaning up their poop...

But they were awesome pets. I loved taking care of those red-cheeked birds, laughing at their silly antics. They'd fight with each other sometimes (Hey, they're brothers. What're you gonna do? =P), and they sang really sweetly when they were in the mood. Cockatiels have the kind of beaks that make you think they're grinning all the time, so they always looked adorable and innocent. Whenever we came home from somewhere, those birds knew it, and they'd chirp out with glee welcoming us back. ^_^

They were the longest pets my siblings and I have ever kept. Besides the birds, we've only ever had rodents in the house, and those always died after a year or so, which was very sad. (See Hazel the hamster's eulogy here. Here is the picture post of Hazel.) At least in our cockatiels' case, they haven't died. They're just being cared for by new owners (who have promised to keep us updated about how our boys settle in). ^,^

*sigh* It's still going to be sad, with no more pets in the house. I'll sure miss them... I love you, Sasha and Sammy. ~_~

For more memories, we've got lots of Youtube videos of the birds. Check out our pet playlist.

Look at me...

This morning I felt a little... off, for some reason. O,o Don't worry. I'm not depressed or anything like that. But I did feel kind of... small. Like I'm not accomplishing everything I can be, or am at least meant to be. I just felt clueless... not to mention lazy...

But now I'm feeling a lot better. ^_^

I heard this John Lennon song today, and it seems to sum up my feelings pretty well. (He's one of the best poets of them all, in my opinion.)
Look at me
who am I supposed to be?what am I supposed to be?
Here I am
what am I supposed to do?What can I do for you?
Who am I?
Nobody knows but meNobody else can see
Just you and me
Who are we...?

Arrested Development + other developments!

In the wake of the end of Glee's 2nd season (*sad* ~,~), I just recently found a hilarious show that will keep me happily distracted until Will, Sue, Kurt, Rachel, and all the rest of them return in September. Infinite thanks to the dear friend who recommended it to me! ^_~

Unbelievable! First he introduces me to Glee, and then he puts me on to a show like Arrested Development! I'm so lucky to have a friend with such awesome taste. ^,^

This show is really funny! I've only seen 2 half-hour episodes, but I am hooked. It helps that I recognize so many of the actors. Look, it's Jason Bateman and a young Michael Cera, who were both in the movie Juno! (Aww, Cera was so cute at 15!) And Jeffrey Tambor, who's been in loads of films I've seen (most memorable being Muppets in Space and How the Grinch Stole Christmas)! And David Cross, who was in Alvin and the Chipmunks, Kung Fu Panda and Megamind, among others! And Will Arnett, who I recognized from 30 Rock, but has been voices in a few animated films. Oh, and I didn't realize this before, but the mom in this show, Jessica Walter, also played the voice of Fran in Dinosaurs! Thanks, Wikipedia!

Okay, I'll stop linking now. Sorry for the rampage. =P (Man, I know lots of TV/movie trivia!) Suffice it to say I think I'm really going to enjoy following these characters in this situation comedy, and we'll leave it at that. ^_^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~In other news, Mamma Mia was a success! Especially the Monday show, which my brother Adam starred in. He was awesome!

And there's me on the left, when they did curtain calls. ^_^

Man, putting on that show took a lot work! Switching sets, making sure kids were ready to go on... I am so glad it's all behind me now. ^,^ It was a great experience, but... let's just say I'm glad my weekends are free again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also, don't you just hate it when you're trying to have a video-chat with someone, but your microphone doesn't work? So you can both see and hear your friend, but your friend can only see you, not hear you? 'Cuz that happened to me... so annoying!

Well, at least now I know I need a new mic! ^_~